On September 13, the 2015 World Leisure Summit concluded successfully in Laixi, Qingdao.
To better promote the healthy development of the leisure industry, drive economic growth, advance social progress, and foster cultural prosperity, all participants reached a consensus and issued the "2015 World Leisure Summit Qingdao Declaration." The declaration advocates six development themes: First, safeguarding leisure rights and strengthening leisure education; second, promoting industrial integration and innovating leisure supply; third, improving leisure facilities and enhancing the leisure environment; fourth, advocating leisure sports and developing sports leisure; fifth, establishing leisure standards and strengthening leisure services; sixth, promoting regional cooperation and sharing the benefits of leisure. The attending guests expressed hope that through collaborative development, they could jointly expand and strengthen the leisure market, share experiences in leisure development, and enjoy the fruits of leisure development together.
Ji Yushui, Vice Mayor of Laixi City, delivered a closing speech, expressing sincere gratitude to the China National Tourism Administration, the China Tourism Association, and the Shandong Provincial Tourism Administration for their strong support of the forum. This summit has opened up new horizons in both theory and practice for the development of the leisure industry and will undoubtedly play an active role in promoting the healthy development of the leisure sector. Laixi City will continue to focus on the theme of “Pastoral Ecology, Leisurely Laixi,” vigorously develop rural tourism centered on ecology and leisure, cultivate distinctive tourist attractions and premium travel routes, and promote the vigorous growth of the leisure industry.
That afternoon, participants visited Laixi’s leisure tourism demonstration sites—the Laxi Lake Agricultural Culture Ecological Park and the Xian Duoduo Farm. In recent years, Laixi City has actively advanced preparations for the Leisure Sports Games around the theme of “Pastoral Ecology, Leisurely Laixi.” Seizing the opportunity of becoming one of Shandong Province’s first pilot counties and cities for comprehensive tourism reform, the city issued opinions to accelerate tourism development, formulated a citywide tourism plan, launched brand-building initiatives, and vigorously developed rural tourism centered on ecology and leisure. The tourism industry has shown rapid growth, forming a tourism layout comprising one city (Laixi urban area), one belt (the Dagusha Ecological Corridor), and four zones (Laxi Lake, Jiangshan Lake, Longquan Lake, and Qingshan Lake), along with a number of distinctive tourist attractions and premium travel routes.
Moving forward, Laixi City will fully leverage its advantages of beautiful environment, abundant freshwater resources, and rich leisure resources. It will continue to make leisure tourism a key platform for urban transformation, vigorously develop leisure sports, leisure picking, and sightseeing tourism, cultivate leisure tourism products, and strive to build a nationally renowned and world-famous “Ecological Leisure Tourism City.”